Moscow 20 August : Russian energy giant Gazprom has announced that it will cease deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline between August 31 between September 2 and August 31.The company said on Friday that the change was due to routine maintenance the dpa news agency reported.
Gazprom has already drastically reduced delivery of gas to Germany saying that it was because of a broken turbine and a turbine that was missing.The turbine was sent to Canada to be repaired, but was unable to be repaired in the country because of Western sanctions against Moscow.
German officials have repeatedly stated they were a ploy to Moscow to retaliate against Berlin for its position on the conflict in Ukraine and to impose sanctions against Russia.
Following the most recent maintenance work, more than 33 million cubic meters of natural gas will be delivered every day.This amounts to 20 percent of the daily maximum output.
In the course of three days of maintenance, the sole operating turbine of the Portovaya compressor station has to be inspected and overhauled, Gazprom stated.
This will be done in collaboration with experts from Siemens Energy, a German company.Siemens Energy.
When was asked, Siemens Energy made no comment on the announcement.
A representative of the Federal Network Agency said on Friday evening that the situation was being closely monitored by the gas industry as well as the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
The gas flow in Nord Stream 1 was unchanged at 20 the spokesperson said.
In the midst of West and Moscow at war about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which began just over six months ago Berlin is rushing to get rid of Russian gas.In the United States gas storage levels are 78 according to data provided by European gas storage companies.
In a video message Friday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky In a video message, the Ukrainian president accused Russia of using pipelines to transport gas for blackmail.
He also made reference to Gazprom’s announcement of the three-day gas shutdown.
“These streams are needed by Russia solely to provide problems to Europe and not to aid anyone there with gas.Now it’s clear,” he said in Kiev.
“The longer that the state of terror continues to be in the European and global energy market and the longer it remains there, the more likely it is that it will be unstable.The sooner everybody in Europe plans their energy system to function without the aid of transporters of energy from Russia and the sooner they can comfortably endure any winter.”
Germany’s dependency upon Russian gas has led to alarming concerns over energy shortages during cold winter months during which millions of households depend on gas to heat their homes.
However one of the senior members of the Free Democrats (FDP), an associate of the junior coalition in the government of Chancellor Olaf Skholz suggested that the stagnant Nord Stream 2 pipeline for gas from Russia might be an solution to a winter energy crisis.
“We should hurry to launch Nord Stream 2 in order to fill our gas tanks in preparation for winter months,” FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki said to the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland media group.
There was “no good reason” to not do it, he added.
However, his remarks received wide-ranging criticism on Friday including from his own FDP.
The leader of the party’s parliament Christian Durr told dpa news agency that “we are having intensive discussions on how to avoid a potential energy crises this winter.As a political party we have put forward several of suggestions regarding this.The opening of Nord Stream 2 is not one of them.”
He added that the pipeline’s opening that was due for certification days prior to Russia attacked Ukraine in February could transmit “the the wrong message to our European partners”.
In contrast, Durr called for Germany’s three nuclear plants that remain to remain operational for the moment, in order to ease the pressure on the market for energy.The reactors are set to shut down by the close of the year as a part of Germany’s withdrawal from nuclear energy.
While not mention of Kubicki, Zelensky spoke of “absurd assertions” in Germany to put Nord Stream 2 in the operation in his message video.
Omid Nouripour, the leader of the Greens Omid Nouripour told dpa the Kubicki’s proposal was not feasible, since Russia is already reducing the amount of gas transported through the operating Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
“It is irrelevant how many pipelines empty you can open,” he said.
The spokesperson of Scholz’s Social Democrats, Nils Schmid Nils Schmid, accused Kubicki of “adopting Russian propaganda”.
The issue was not the shortage of pipelines, but rather a unwillingness of Russian president Vladimir Putin to deliver more gas, he noted.
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